Buckling

Buckling is the failure of a long, slender column that has been subjected to a compressive,
axial load. As the load is applied, the center of the column span bulges outward, and then
either cracks or yields, depending on the material properties of the specific component.
Corrosion
Corrosion is the chemical alteration (generally, but not always, oxidation), of a material due to
environmental exposure to corrosive elements. For example, iron or steel that is exposed to
air can undergo oxidation, forming iron oxide, commonly known as rust.
Creep
Creep is the slow deformation of a solid material over time due to applied loads and often
increased temperatures. Creep can result in changes in material properties and part
geometries that can cause failures.
Primary mechanical failure modes
Fatigue
Fatigue is a reduction in the ultimate strength of a material due to cyclic loading of a part.
Even elastic deformations can result in material changes that can reduce the ultimate strength
over a large number of cycles.
Fracture
Fracture begins as a localized micro crack in a part that slowly grows over time, or grows
rapidly when exposed to a large overload. Failure occurs when the crack growth becomes
critical and the part breaks. Crack growth often begins in areas of high stress concentration,
such as corners.
Impact
Impact failure, just as it sounds, is the failure of a part due to impact with or by another
object. A baseball shattering a window is an impact failure.
Primary mechanical failure modes
Rupture
Rupture generally occurs in pressure vessels or other containers when the pressure within the
vessel exceeds the strength of a vessel, either globally or locally.
Thermal Shock
Thermal shock is the result of a component moving quickly from one temperature extreme to
another. For example, brittle materials such as cast iron experience thermal shock if a hot part
is suddenly cooled.
Wear
Wear is the gradual removal of material by two parts rubbing against each other, or
environmental contact with a part, such as water or sand.
Yielding
The yield point is essentially the peak load that the part can hold before the material stretches
apart.
Primary mechanical failure modes
Metal Fatigue is a process which causes premature irreversible damage or failure of a
component subjected to repeated loading.
Fatigue is a sequence of several complex phenomena encompassing several disciplines:
motion of dislocations
surface phenomena
fracture mechanics
stress analysis
probability and statistics
Fatigue takes many forms:
fatigue at notches
rolling contact fatigue
fretting fatigue
corrosion fatigue
creep-fatigue
Fatigue is a not a cause of failure, but it leads to the final failure/damage
Fatigue
There are many harmful factors to the materials beyond the scope of strength of materials.
The accumulation of one or several of these factors eventually shorten the service life of
materials. The combined effect of these factors is called "fatigue mechanism". Some common
fatigue mechanisms include:
Time-varying Loading Fatigue
Thermal Fatigue
Corrosion Fatigue
Surface/Contact Fatigue
Combined Creep and Fatigue
Definition: Fatigue is the process of progressive localized permanent structural change
occurring in a material subjected to conditions which produce fluctuating stresses and strains
at some point or points and which may culminate in cracks or complete fracture after a
sufficient number of fluctuations. (ASTM standard definition)
Fatigue
Versailles rail accident occurred on May 8, 1842
Examination of several broken axles from British railway vehicles by William John Macquorn
Rankine showed that they had failed by brittle cracking across their diameters, a problem
now known as fatigue. At the time, there was considerable confusion about the problem.
First fatigue failure
Drawing of a fatigue failure in an axle, 1843. Versailles train disaster
1840s Fatigue failure of railroad axles stress concentration at shoulders
1850 1860 Whler (German), The father of systematic fatigue testing introduced S-N
diagram
1870 1890 Gerber and Goodman provide analysis tools to account for superimposed
mean and alternating stresses
1920s Gough examined slip lines and analyzed the mechanisms of fatigue
1920s Griffith studied brittle fracture
1930s Haigh notch strain analysis
1930s Almen shot peening to create residual compressive surface stresses
1945s Miner cumulative damage concept to account for stress regime of varying
amplitude (suggested by Palmgren in 1924)
1950s Irwin introduced stress intensity factor, the basis for linear elastic fracture
mechanics (LEFM)
1960s Manson and Coffin introduced LCF (low cycle fatigue)
Fatigue in history
Appearance of failure surfaces caused by various modes of loading (SAE Handbook)
Appearance of failure surfaces
Time-Varying Loading
Time-varying Loading Fatigue can be defined as a process caused by time-varying loads
which never reach a high enough level to cause failure in a single application, and yet results
in progressive localized permanent damages on the material.
The damages, usually cracks, initiate and propagate in regions where the strain is most
severe. When the local damages grow out of control, a sudden fracture/rupture ends the
service life of the structure.
Thermal fatigue
Thermal fatigue is the gradual deterioration ad eventual cracking of a material by alternate
heating and cooling during which free thermal expansion is partially or completely
constrained.
Constraint of thermal expansion causes thermal stresses which may eventually initiate and
propagate fatigue cracks.
Mostly thermal fatigue will be classified under low cycle fatigue . Because thermal
fatigue cracks usually starts in less than 50000 cycles.
Thermal fatigue was classified as thermal fatigue and isothermal fatigue
Fatigue
Corrosion fatigue
Corrosion Fatigue (CF) is the metal cracking caused by combined action of a cyclic loading
and a corrosive environment.
Classified as Corrosion fatigue and Stress corrosion fatigue. The principal difference is static
stress in corrosion fatigue & alternating/ fluctuating stress in stress corrosion fatigue.
Surface / Contact fatigue
CONTACT FATIGUE is a surface-pitting-type failure commonly found in ball or roller bearings.
This type of failure can also be found in gears, cams, valves, rails, and gear couplings.
Contact fatigue differs from classic structural fatigue (bending or torsion) in that it results
from a contact or Hertzian stress state.
This localized stress state results when curved surfaces are in contact under a normal load.
Fatigue
Fatigue
loading
Fatigue
loading
Constant
amplitude
Constant
amplitude
Proportional
loading
Proportional
loading
Non
proportional
loading
Non
proportional
loading
Variable
amplitude
Variable
amplitude
Proportional
loading
Proportional
loading
Non
proportional
loading
Non
proportional
loading
Note: Loading ratio = 1, for proportional loading { ratio of second load to first load}
Fatigue loading
Proportional loading
Loading ratio = 1
Principal stress axes do not
change over time
Single set FE result study
can identify critical fatigue
location
No, cycle counting and
cumulative damage
calculations
Non proportional loading
Loading ratio 1
Principal stress axes are
free to change between 2
load sets
Critical fatigue location may
appear in spatial
Cycle counting, damage
summation need to be done
to identify total fatigue
damage
Fatigue loading
2

stress, Mean
min max
m
+
=
2

stress, g Alternatin
min max
a

=
max
min

R
ratio, Stress
=
min max r

range, Stress
=
m
a

A
amplitude, Stress
=
Fatigue loading
German engineer August Whler conducted the first systematic fatigue investigation. Whler
conducted cyclic tests on full-scale railway axles and also on small-scale bending, torsion and
push-pull specimens of several different materials. Typically, the S-N relationship is
determined for a specific value of MEAN STRESS, STRESS RATIO or AMPLITUDE RATIO.
Most determinations of fatigue properties have been made in completely reversed bending,
i.e. R = -1, by means of the so-called rotating bend test.
The usual laboratory procedure for determining an S-N curve is to test the first specimen at
a high stress, about two thirds of the static tensile stress of the material, where failure is
expected in a fairly small number of cycles. The test stress is decreased for each succeeding
specimen until one or two specimens do not fail before at least 10
7
cycles. For materials
which exhibit it, the highest stress at which no failure occurs, a run out, is taken to be the
fatigue limit.
S-N Curve (or) Whler curve
S-N Curve (or) Whler curve
R. R. Moore rotating beam experimental setup.
S-N Curve
S-N Curve
Haigh proposed and conducted series of tests to investigate different combinations of stress
amplitude and mean stress for a given number of cycles to failure.
The diagram plots the mean stress, both tensile and compressive, along the x-axis and the
alternating constant stress amplitude along the y-axis.
This is commonly referred as the Haigh diagram.
Failure appears to be more sensitive to tensile mean stress, than compressive mean stress.
Mean stress influence
Mean stress influence
SAE Master diagram AISI4340 steel
stress) fracture True - (
1

S
S
S
: s) 1960' (USA, Morrow
1
S
S
S
S
: 1930) (USA, Soderberg
1
S
S
S
S
: 1874) (Germany, Gerber
1
S
S
S
S
: 1899) (England, Goodman
f
f
m
e
a
y
m
e
a
2
u
m
e
a
u
m
e
a
= +
= +
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
= +
All methods should only be used for tensile mean stress values.
The Soderberg method is very conservative. It is used in applications where neither fatigue
failure nor yielding should occur.
For hard steels (brittle), where the ultimate strength approaches the true fracture stress, the
Morrow and Goodman curves are essentially equivalent.
For ductile steels (
f
> S
u
), the Morrow model predicts less sensitivity to mean stress.
Empirical relations
Applied Stresses
Stress range The basic cause of plastic deformation and consequently the accumulation of
damage
Mean stress Tensile mean and residual stresses aid to the formation and growth of fatigue
cracks
Stress gradients Bending is a more favorable loading mode than axial loading because in
bending fatigue cracks propagate into the region of lower stresses
Materials
Tensile and yield strength Higher strength materials resist plastic deformation and hence
have a higher fatigue strength at long lives. Most ductile materials perform better at short
lives
Quality of material Metallurgical defects such as inclusions, seams, internal tears, and
segregated elements can initiate fatigue cracks
Temperature Temperature usually changes the yield and tensile strength resulting in the
change of fatigue resistance (high temperature decreases fatigue resistance)
Frequency (rate of straining) At high frequencies, the metal component may be self-
heated.
Factors Influencing Fatigue Life
Size and shape of the component or structure
Type of loading and state of stress
Stress concentration
Surface finish
Operating temperature
Service environment
Method of fabrication

e
= k
a
k
b
k
c
k
d
k
e
k
f
k
g
k
h

where
e
= endurance limit of component

e
= endurance limit experimental
k
a
= surface finish factor (machined parts have different finish)
k
b
= size factor (larger parts greater probability of finding defects)
k
c
= reliability / statistical scatter factor (accounts for random variation)
k
d
= operating T factor (accounts for diff. in working T & room T)
k
e
= loading factor (differences in loading types)
k
f
= stress concentration factor
k
g
= service environment factor (action of hostile environment)
k
h
= manufacturing processes factor (influence of fabrication parameters)
Factors effecting the Fatigue life
There are typically three stages to fatigue failure.
1. First, a small crack is initiated or nucleates at the surface and can include scratches, pits,
sharp corners due to poor design or manufacture, inclusions, grain boundaries or
dislocation concentrations.
2. Second, the crack gradually propagates as the load continues to cycle.
3. Third, a sudden fracture of the material occurs when the remaining cross-section of the
material is too small to support the applied load.
Stages of fatigue failure
The total number of cycles to failure is the sum of cycles at the first and the second stages:
N
f
= N
i
+ N
p
N
f
: Number of cycles to failure
N
i
: Number of cycles for crack initiation
N
p
: Number of cycles for crack propagation
High cycle fatigue (low loads): N
i
is relatively high. With increasing stress level, N
i
decreases
and N
p
dominates
Cycles to failure
Fatigue analysis Fatigue analysis
FEA based FEA based
Stress life
approach
Stress life
approach
Strain life
approach
Strain life
approach
Crack propagation Crack propagation Vibration approach Vibration approach
Experimental based Experimental based
High cycle fatigue
Subjected to less
sever loads
Stress with in
elastic limit
First fatigue
analysis
Uses S-N curves
Low cycle fatigue
Heavy duty
applications
Crack initiation life
Elastic & plastic
strains
Uses -N curves
Developed in
1960s
Fracture
mechanics
LEFM, EPFM
Rate of crack
growth
Life left
Can combine with
LCF
Complex analysis
Resonance effect
Need dynamic
stress as input
FRF and PSD
based analysis
Fatigue analysis
Generally high cycle fatigue involves high frequencies 1000 Hz (cycles/sec)
Assumes that all stresses in the component, even local stress, stay below elastic limit at all
time
Easy to use and simple approach based on S-N curve
Availability of ample data
High cycle fatigue
Generally low cycle fatigue involves lower frequencies but using higher forces to test the
plastic properties of a material.
Strain is the basic cause of fatigue.
At some point in the component being loaded the strain must be plastic (i.e. non reversible)
for a crack to start.
This method calculates crack initiation life.
It is important for situations in which components or portions of components undergo either
mechanically or thermally induced cyclic plastic strains that cause failure within relatively few
cycles.
LCF is also referred as LLC (life limited components)
Low cycle fatigue